After nearly two days, when Chen Guan reached level five in Peacock Forest, the Blood Hand Seal finally broke through to level 2, and the Primordial Energy consumption per use changed to 3.2. Yan Zhi reached level six, and Warring States' level also rose to seven—its level rose the fastest.
Unfortunately, Warring States has a low Growth Rate, no Skills, and its Talent is unrelated to combat strength. Without the Spirit of the Cheerleaders' boost, its combat power is even inferior to the Ling Tong Peacock.
With the Spirit of the Cheerleaders' boost, killing Ling Tong Peacocks of the same Level is a piece of cake.
"Peacock Forest is no longer suitable for me, I need to find another suitable place." In two days, Chen Guan had killed many Ling Tong Peacocks. Apart from that earlier Illusive Color Ling Tong Peacock, nothing else had dropped—it's truly pitiful how low the drop rate is.
Exiting Peacock Forest, he came to Valley Creek. Chen Guan set up a fire, boiled water, plucked and gutted a dead white peacock, cleaned it up, and roasted it over the fire.
For these two days, Chen Guan had been surviving solely on peacock meat. It didn't taste very good, merely enough to barely fill his stomach.
Just after finishing the meal, as he followed Valley Creek to explore other places, he suddenly saw a figure running towards him on a mountain path—the figure far away was a man.
Chen Guan became cautious and retrieved Yan Zhi, leaving only Warring States outside. If it's really an enemy, surprise unleashing Yan Zhi would be more effective; he might catch him off guard.
"Qin Ziyu?" When the person moved closer, Chen Guan saw his appearance clearly and slightly froze.
The person also saw Chen Guan's appearance clearly and was somewhat flustered, surprised, "Chen Guan, how did you get transported here too?"
Qin Ziyu and Chen Guan were students of the same academy, the same grade, and even the same class. The difference was, Qin Ziyu was the academy's figure of renown, acknowledged as a Martial Arts genius with remarkably high comprehension and exceptionally strong learning ability; a star-like top student.
Though Chen Guan wasn't a poor student, his grades hovered in the mid-range; he's the kind who doesn't cause trouble and isn't very noticeable—a transparent person.
"I chose to enter Pingdu Mountain Blessed Land, and then was transported to here." After Chen Guan finished speaking, he looked at Qin Ziyu and asked, "How come you are in Pingdu Mountain Blessed Land too?"
Qin Ziyu had a respectable background; the Qin Family had its own claimed Blessed Land. Theoretically, Qin Ziyu's first entry into a Secret Realm shouldn't be to a place like Pingdu Mountain Blessed Land.
"Originally, I wanted to venture out alone to see what I'm capable of, but ended up transported to this ghost place." Qin Ziyu smiled and said, "There are several classmates transported here as well, now we're acting together, you should join us."
"Other classmates transported here too?" Chen Guan was a bit surprised.
"Yes, counting you and I, we have seven classmates now," Qin Ziyu said.
"Seven classmates? Besides our classmates, have you encountered anyone else?" Chen Guan seemed to think of something, staring at Qin Ziyu and asked.
"No, it's all our classmates. It's puzzling why there isn't anyone else here, only our classmates." Qin Ziyu said.
"You all entered Pingdu Mountain Blessed Land on July 15th?" Chen Guan had faintly suspected earlier when listening to the old-timers, now he was even more sure of his suspicion.
"Should be, anyway, I came in on July 15th, is there any issue?" Qin Ziyu asked with some doubt.
"This is an island, and on this island, novice cultivators transported here a year ago on the same day. Then, throughout this year, no one else was transported to this island until we arrived on this year's July 15th. This doesn't seem to be a coincidence." Chen Guan shared his conjecture.
Qin Ziyu nodded slightly, "In the region near Pingdu Mountain Blessed Land, people around the age of adulthood are all cultivating in our academy, so those choosing July 15th to enter Pingdu Mountain Blessed Land for the first time could very possibly be our classmates. Your speculation is plausible; seems we might have discovered a hidden rule of Pingdu Mountain Blessed Land—but why is it July 15th?"
"July 15th was the old Ghost Festival," said Chen Guan.
"Ghost Festival!" Qin Ziyu suddenly realized and, pondering, said, "To transport new cultivators here on Ghost Festival, what does it mean?"
"Who knows." Chen Guan shrugged.
"By the way, you mentioned that there are cultivators transported here a year ago, how are they doing now? Have they found a way to transport out?" Qin Ziyu recalled what Chen Guan stated earlier and asked.
Chen Guan relayed all the information he got from the old-timers to Qin Ziyu. Qin Ziyu shook his head slightly after listening, "Those who came earlier are so practical; they probably won't offer us any help, might even be disadvantageous to us. It's better not to contact them for now."
Chen Guan had the same thought and was about to say something when he heard someone shouting Qin Ziyu's name from afar. Shortly thereafter, he saw five similarly-aged peers come along Valley Creek from upstream.
"I was wondering why you didn't respond; turns out you found another newcomer. Is this one also our classmate?" Lu Teng approached, examining Chen Guan.
He wasn't in the same class as Chen Guan, and Chen Guan didn't have much presence in the academy, so he didn't recognize Chen Guan.
"This is Chen Guan from our class." Qin Ziyu spoke and gestured towards Lu Teng and the others to introduce them, "Lu Teng, Hua Yun, Huacai, Wang Lian, Gongsun Zhuo."
Chen Guan nodded in acknowledgment, although these people weren't from his class, he had seen them and heard of their names—they were well-known figures in the academy with relatively good grades. Especially the twin sisters Hua Yun and Huacai, whom no one in the academy didn't know.
Twins were rare, and they were particularly beautiful, making it difficult not to attract attention.
"All classmates, helping each other would be ideal—standard procedure first, report your Talent and specialties for collaboration." Lu Teng examined Chen Guan and said.
The academy's eminent students were mostly recognizable by Lu Teng, yet Chen Guan wasn't well-known, likely implying he's not particularly capable.
Besides imparting cultural classes, the academy taught various knowledge about the Secret Realm, and significant portions are combat skills—those proficient in combat skills usually become famous, hence deducing that Chen Guan might not be very adept.
"Common Talent: Recovery, capable of enhancing self Primordial Energy recovery rate." Chen Guan didn't wish to team up with them; with Yan Zhi, he could easily manage solo, and he didn't want to reveal his true Talent, so he deliberately stated a very weak Talent.
Common Talent is the weakest, and Recovery Talent only replenishes one's energy and hardly helps the team. Should Lu Teng and the team think Chen Guan was useless, he could leave on his own freely.
"You're quite unlucky, randomly getting such a Talent and being transported to this place. You must have struggled these days." Looking at the nearby Warring States, Lu Teng patted Chen Guan's shoulder and said with a smile, "But no need to worry, we can cover for you."